Recipes from the new edition

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Here are a couple of recipes from the new edition of Stephanie Alexander's The Cook's Companion.

Angel cake

Snowy-white angel cake is a great favourite in the United States. To bake it satisfactorily one must use an angel cake tin with high sides and a hole in the middle*. The cooked cake is inverted (still in its tin) over a bottle or similar so that gravity encourages the cooling mixture to shrink away from the tin and not stick. Airy and delicate, angel cake is a marvellous way to use up egg whites and is perfect to accompany summer berries. Note that tins for angel cake are not greased.

Preheat oven to 160C. Sift flour, cornflour, salt and one-third of the sugar. Sift remaining sugar into a separate bowl and stir in lemon zest. Beat egg whites with lemon juice and water until foamy, then add cream of tartar and beat until whites hold stiff peaks but are not dry. Beat in reserved sugar and lemon zest in several lots. The mixture should be glossy. Sift flour mixture over meringue a little at a time, folding in well.

Spoon into a 25cm x 10cm deep angel cake tin and bang tin sharply on bench to remove air bubbles. Bake for about 35 minutes until cake has risen and is springy to the touch. Cool for a few minutes, then invert tin over the neck of a bottle or a jar until cake is quite cold. Remove from tin with a firm shake.

For icing

Mix passionfruit pulp with a small amount of cream. Sweeten to taste with icing sugar and spread over the top of of cake. Alternatively substitute 1/4 cup strained raspberry puree for the passionfruit.

Serves 12-15.

*You can use a conventional 25cm x 5cm ring tin, which has a much larger hole in the centre and will make plenty for 8 portions. For this size tin, you will need: 60g plain flour, 20g cornflour, pinch of salt, 140g caster sugar, 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest, 7 egg whites (200mL), 2 tsp lemon juice, 2 tsp water and 1/2 tsp cream of tartar. Follow the method above and check the cake after 20 minutes.

Cut each eggplant lengthwise to give four shapely 5mm thick slices (reserve side sections for another dish). Arrange slices on a tray and sprinkle with salt. Cover with a clean tea towel and weigh down for 1 hour with a heavy olive oil can on its side or something similar.

Meanwhile, make the sweet-and-sour sauce. Simmer tomato sauce with sugar, vinegar and pepper in a wide saucepan until reduced a little. Taste - the sauce should have a definite sweet-sour character, but may need a squeeze of lemon juice. Set sauce aside.

Preheat oven to 220C. Remove rim of fat on each slice of prosciutto, then cut each slice in half crosswise. Cut each mozzarella into three 1cm thick slices and halve slices crosswise to make 12 half-moons of cheese.

Rinse eggplant and dry very well with kitchen paper. Oil a baking tray and arrange eggplant slices on it. Do not overlap. Brush exposed sides with more oil and bake for 15 minutes or until underside of slices is golden. Turn and cook other side for 10 minutes until eggplant is tender. Remove from oven and transfer to a tray or plate to cool.

Spread two-thirds of sweet -and-sour sauce on a serving platter. Top the less-coloured side of eggplant slices with a piece each of prosciutto and mozzarella. Roll up, starting from the narrowest end, and put seam-side down on platter until all rolls are snugly in place. Spoon over remaining sauce and scatter with basil.

Scatter with pinenuts and preserved lemon.

Serves 4-6.

*In the new edition, this asterisk leads the reader to a recipe for Fresh Tomato Sauce in the Basics chapter. You can also use any quality bottled tomato pasta sauce.